Every now and then the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — arguably the nation’s most progressive federal circuit — can offer up a legal surprise. Yesterday, it gave us a legal shock, when a divided panel of its judges affirmed last year’s federal district-court injunction temporarily blocking enforcement of California’s confiscatory ban on so-called large-capacity magazines.

Under California law, any person who possesses a legally purchased magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition must either remove the magazine from the state, sell it to a licensed firearm dealer, or hand it over to law enforcement. Those citizens who retained their magazines after the law went into effect risked a fine or up to one year’s imprisonment in county jail.

The district court’s 66-page opinion was a legal tour-de-force that not only dismantled California’s justifications for the ban, but also reiterated and reinforced the constitutional and historical basis for the right to keep and bear arms....

Barack Obama -- although the New York Times would burn down its own building rather than admit it -- did an abysmal job with Putin and was indeed the one who was truly "owned" by the Russian. And it wasn't just the silly reset button and the embarrassing video of Barack whispering into Medvedev's ear to tell Vlad he -- Barack -- would be more flexible on missiles after the election. (What a toady!) Even worse, in his Chamberlainesque ardor to make a deal with Iran's mullahs, Obama let Putin play him in Syria, agreeing not to honor his redline against Assad's use of chemical weapons in order not to endanger the deal. Trump never did anything nearly that pathetic. Actually, he stands up strong.

But the David Gergens of the world yammer on that Trump is doing everything wrong. He's certainly doing some things wrong -- we all do -- but being gracious to Putin personally while actively opposing what the Russian does in his actions, may be exactly the way to get results. But Trump's opponents don't care about results. Overwhelmed with hate, they would prefer to see the president wounded and impeached than succeed with Putin and bring about a world safer from nuclear armageddon. If Trump achieves this, however, it will be his finest hour. It would be for any president.

California Governor Jerry Brown, heading into his last months in office, is staring down a capstone political challenge — an unexpectedly robust GOP effort to dismantle one of his legacy achievements.

The gas tax, designed to pay for the state’s infrastructure repairs for the next decade, is under threat of repeal from a November ballot measure that has energized the state’s moribund Republican Party. Already, the fight has all the ingredients of a monumental political clash: implications for the control of Congress, a test of Democrats’ ability to defend the fruits of their political dominance and the four-term governor’s lasting imprint on California are all at stake....

The gas tax is a product of Democrats’ total control in Sacramento, where legislative leaders used hard-won legislative supermajorities — which allowed them to pass tax increases without Republican support...

The optics of Mueller offering immunity to the brother of Hillary Clinton's campaign manager (and a major Democrat lobbyist) so he can testify against Trump's former campaign chairman are beyond awful. This is an awful look for Mueller. https://t.co/LXj6KDjKye

...From Santa Rosa to San Jose, more and more residents are making the bittersweet decision to leave the Bay Area, abandoning its near-perfect weather, booming economy and thriving arts, culture and food scenes in favor of less-glamorous destinations like Austin, Boise and Knoxville.

Some are fleeing the Bay Area's sky-high housing and rent prices, both among the most expensive in the nation. Others are cashing out, selling their homes to get more for their money in a less expensive city. Nearly all of them are fed up with miserable, hours-long commutes on snarled freeways.

“Because the policies Ms. Ocasio-Cortez advocates are so far from the mainstream, her election in November would make it harder for Congress to stop fighting and start fixing problems,” Liberman wrote. “Nancy Pelosi has tried to put distance between Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and House Democrats… She knows that if Democrats are to regain a majority, it will be by winning swing districts with sensible, mainstream candidates. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is making that task harder across America.”

...Partly this is the result of the federal government’s arrogation of state power; there just aren’t as many local issues to argue about anymore. But even more it’s the decline in the power of incumbency and the rise of the primary wars. Republican Eric Cantor, the powerful House majority leader, wasn’t upset by a Democratic opponent in 2014; he lost the GOP primary to an unknown Virginian economist, David Brat. The latter’s support came initially from national media with knives sharpened for Cantor as a GOP establishment favorite. Incumbents are under assault from both left and right and so the question of whether they “stand with the president” or are willing to “stand up to the president” is the only one.

Rather than talking to the voters themselves and figuring out the three or four things that concern them most immediately, candidates listen mainly to their consultants and decide whether their campaigns will venerate the president or denounce him. For the press, arguing about the presidency and the future of the country is more interesting than arguing about the continued funding of a military base or the local effects of a federal environmental regulation. And so every election becomes a referendum on the the man in the White House and his policies—which today means that everything becomes more about Trump than it already was.

One’s attitude toward the president is important, but it’s hardly the only relevant thing to know about a candidate for high office. There’s no reason a principled congressional candidate can’t say Trump’s right sometimes and wrong sometimes—say, disagree with him on trade policy but praise him for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal—and, with that out of the way, move on to discussions of greater local and regional concern. Yet we’re hard-pressed to think of any candidate doing so in 2018.

GP I'm about five pages into the complaint, and I am beyond amused that these high tax jurisdictions are arguing taxation is a harmful penalty and taxing authority ought thus be curtailed. https://t.co/KCDYNDA1tv

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Putin hacking the Republican Campaign doesn't fit the narrative. So Mueller and Rosenstein censored that evidence in their latest Russian indictment, and in the recent Nunes report on Russian interference in the election

BREAKING: In June 2016, US intelligence--including NSA, FBI & CIA--knew that the computer networks of BOTH presidential candidates--Hillary Clinton AND Donald Trump (as well as GOP PACs)-were targeted by Russian spies. Yet now that information is being COVERED UP by DOJ & Mueller

First the FBI & DOJ relied on a Clinton contractor (CrowdStrike) to provide research to blame Russia for hacking Clinton, then they relied on another Clinton contractor (Fusion GPS) to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign to frame it for colluding w Russia. Notice a pattern?

The FBI & DOJ agreed to not issue warrants to the DNC or Clinton campaign to search computer devices in the Russia hacking probe, just like they agreed to not issue warrants to Clinton and her aides to search their devices in the email espionage probe.

BREAKING: Clinton campaign counsel Marc Elias hired CrowdStrike to write the unusual public report blaming Russia for hacking the DNC in June 2016 -- the same month Elias hired Fusion GPS & Steele to write the dossier pinning the hacking on not just Russia but also Trump campaign

It's now clear from the DNC hiring a Democrat contractor with an anti-Russia agenda to do the forensics, while stiff-arming objective FBI computer analysts, that political factors crowded out a scientific examination of the evidence. Ergo, Mueller's evidence is not court worthy

BREAKING: The FBI (and Mueller's team) obtained only the "forensic" images of the allegedly hacked DNC systems from CrowdStrike, which is not the same as workable mirror images of the hard drives. (And again, no actual machines were examined at the FBI forensics lab at Quantico.)

DOJ, which is working with Mueller probe, compelled congressional committees investigating Russian election interference to redact info about Russian intrusions @ RNC & other GOP targets from their reports, claiming it is classified at the highest levels. https://t.co/WElV39RUb7

Recall in Oct 2016, Comey's FBI also leaked to Apuzzo @ NYT that Manafort under "FBI investigation." Wasn't just Carter Page they were leaking on, was also Manafort. And it was NYT story on Ukraine dealings that forced Manafort's exit in Aug. One of NYT's sources? Glenn Simpson

Without the DNC and DCCC servers -- or "the 10 DCCC computers and 33 DNC computers" the GRU allegedly gained access to--Mueller is not able to present physical evidence in court to prove a crime even occurred. Where is the underlying evidence? His indictment is a political farce

Never forget, John Brennan is the puppet master of #SpyGate. Christopher Steele, Stef Halper, Nellie Ohr, Peter Strzok, as well as Mueller's Russian hacking & trolling indictments, all tie back to him. He's also the one who fed "collusion" dirt to Dem minority on intel committees

Now that the nation is laser-focused on the integrity of elections, I'm surprised hardly any Republicans are making the argument that a universal voter-ID system would be a helpful safeguard to ensure foreign powers don't affect the results.

Translation: "The Democrats and I caught on that my name is electoral poison - so we're going to publicly distance ourselves while I continue to fund every NGO set on destroying America while lining Democrat pockets."

Now we KNOW who has been attacking ads for Ingraham, Fox News, etc.
Matt Rivitz, Founder of Sleeping Giants, is the one behind Anti-Breitbart, Laura Ingraham Social Media Mobs https://t.co/IcuF8UEpnq via @BreitbartNews

Leftie: OMG THEY DOXXED SLEEPING GIANTS! Report them! Doxxing is wrong!
Me: So you reported Sleeping Giants when they doxxed conservative voices, right?
Leftie: THEY HAD IT COMING.
Me: But doxxing is wrong, yes?
Leftie: THEY HAD IT COMING! ARGLE BLA-GARBLE!

The bottom line: Americans want peace, not conflict. “Nothing would be easier politically than to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage, but that would not accomplish anything,” President Trump said. https://t.co/c0yc7egjc3

Trump Derangement Syndrome: Democrats are accusing Trump of "sabotage" for following a court ruling to temporarily halt what the judges called an "arbitrary and capricious" #ObamaCare program. https://t.co/pQISVOevy1

If the media truly reported the important changes in the world, they could have run the headline NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN EXTREME POVERTY FELL BY 137,000 SINCE YESTERDAY every single day for the last 25 years. https://t.co/izjadntivjpic.twitter.com/OGucg7TXMr

She has made so many bizarre assertions about economics, politics, and international relations that her recent revisionist history has gotten lost in the mix https://t.co/IRzRiANo9a Opinion by @PhilipWegmann

Monday, July 16, 2018

At least 21 U.S. newspapers ran identical letters to the editor opposing Trump's SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh. Each letter was published w/the name of a different 'signer,' claiming Kavanaugh threatens 'everything that we hold dear as a nation.’ #AstroTurfhttps://t.co/5ydEoYAqGr

Obama on Putin meddling in our election: "He denies it. So the idea that somehow public shaming is gonna be effective, I think doesn't read the thought process in Russia very well.” https://t.co/9gexI6YLVW

For the entire eight years Obama was in the White House, the sycophant media heralded his imaginary diplomatic prowess. Now that a real president is engaging in true diplomacy with a nuclear superpower, they all condemn the effort. Unsurprising hypocrisy. https://t.co/BTXkUgYyDo

President Donald Trump: Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling into U.S. elections has hurt relations between the U.S. and Russia and has been a “disaster for our country.” pic.twitter.com/KHNSkQ5aTq

#BREAKING: The liberal outrage campaign over the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination is temporarily suspended for the current outrage campaign directed at the #RussiaSummit. Of course, this is pending the initiation of a new outrage campaign tomorrow for a yet to be named outrage.

The Left has every chip, they've put everything on Russia-Trump to impeach him.
But, it's not working! @realDonaldTrump dared to speak about the DNC server and question the corrupt intelligence community.

Long time appeasers of the Soviet empire in the Democratic Party want to re-start the Cold War with a Russia greatly diminished in power and influence rather than see if we can make deals with this thug regime to reduce the dangers of nuclear war, & rein in Iran's terror regime. https://t.co/aXYjFIwxnJ

Welcome

Hi, I'm John Schutt, chairman of the Humboldt County Republican Central Committee: Want to get involved? We need republicans for open spots on the central committee, committee seats, letters to the editor writers, and more. Send me your thoughts and ideas on making Humboldt great again. Please feel free to call the office (442-2259) or leave a message here (or on Facebook) and I will get back to you as soon as possible.